Cyber School is the future of education
Cyber School is the new generations way of learning In recent years, home-schooled children seem to be more evolved and well rounded in my opinion. I noticed that the environment and curriculum helps children thrive which gears them to be successful in future endeavors. Cyber School Vs. Public School Home environment vs. School environment For many advocates of either home schooling or public school education, the environment offered by either situation is the determining factor as to whether a child should be home-schooled or sent to a regular public school. The calm, safe environment of home school Proponents of home schooling believe that children thrive better in a safe, comfortable environment with which they are familiar. Ironically, so do advocates of public schooling. However, home-schoolers believe the home is the safest, most secure environment in which a child can learn. At home, a child does not have to deal with peer pressure or with fitting-in with the popular cliques. A child can just “be.” This gives the child the opportunity to focus on the lessons being taught and on the educational expectations required of him or her. Home-schooled students do not have to worry whether they are wearing the right clothes, the right shoes, or are shopping at the right stores or playing the right video games. Since there are (usually) no other children around, home-schooled children learn in a relatively calm, peaceful environment, and – most importantly – they usually have the opportunity to work at their own pace and in their own style. For some, that spells the difference between success and failure. The critical social component of regular school Regular public school classrooms are not, by nature, relatively calm environments, especially at the elementary school level. However, that does not mean a student cannot thrive in such an environment. In fact, supporters of regular public schooling argue that the chaos of the classroom is actually what children need to succeed. Humans are social creatures. That is the belief of many regular public school proponents. Children should interact and to work with one another in order to build real, vital skills needed in the real world. For example, the advocates of regular public schooling believe that learning the reading process can certainly happen effectively at home. After all, they say, most kids do learn to read at home. However, the goal of public education is not to teach students simply how to read, solve math problems, or to solve scientific equations. If that was the case, home schooling would be the best option for everyone. The mission of regular public schools, the supporters argue, is to teach kids those skills – and then how to use and apply them through meaningful, necessary interactions with their peers and teachers. That, in essence, is the focus of many regular public schools: relationships. Those relationships can only truly be formed in regular schools. Students can only truly learn how to problem-solve with their peers if they are in a regular public school. Students can only learn how to handle and overcome peer pressure if they are faced with it in a regular school. Of course, this attitude held by many supporters of regular public school may suggest that actual “book” learning is not as important as learning how to deal with others, but only you can decide which is more important to your child. Both environments clearly offer opportunities for children to learn, but only you can choose which kind of learning is most vital to you and your family. Along with the environment in which they learn, students (and their families) also have to consider what they are going to learn. Home schooling and regular public schooling have different philosophies about these elements as well. Cyber School Pros and Cons As the dissatisfaction among parents with the U.S. education system grows, so too does the number of homeschoolers in America. Since 1999, the number of children who are being homeschooled has increased by 75%. Although currently the percentage of homeschooled children is only 4% of all school children nationwide, the number of primary school kids whose parents choose to forgo traditional education is growing seven times faster than the number of kids enrolling in K-12 every year. Despite the growth of homeschooling of late, concerns about the quality of education offered to the kids by their parents persist. But the consistently high placement of homeschooled kids on standardized assessment exams, one of the most celebrated benefits of homeschooling, should be able to put those fears to rest. Homeschooling statistics show that those who are independently educated typically score between the 65th and 89th percentile on such exams, while those attending traditional schools average on the 50th percentile. Furthermore, the achievement gaps, long plaguing school systems around the country, aren’t present in the homeschooling environment. There’s no difference in achievement between sexes, income levels, or race/ethnicity. Recent studies laud homeschoolers’ academic success, noting their significantly higher ACT-Composite scores as high schoolers and higher grade point averages as college students. Yet surprisingly, the average expenditure for the education of a homeschooled child, per year, is $500 to $600, compared to an average expenditure of $10,000 per child, per year, for public school students. College recruiters from the best schools in the United States aren’t slow to recognize homeschoolers’ achievements. Those from non-traditional education environments matriculate in colleges and attain a four-year degree at much higher rates than their counterparts from public and even private schools. Homeschoolers are actively recruited by schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Stanford University, and Duke. Nor do homeschoolers miss out on the so-called socialization opportunities, something considered a vital part of a traditional school environment and lacking in those who don’t attend regular schools. But it’s one of the surprising advantages of homeschooling that homeschooled kids tend to be more socially engaged than their peers, and according to the National Home Education Research Institute survey, demonstrate “healthy social, psychological, and emotional development, and success into adulthood.”